The latest figures from the HSE into Health and Safety at Work have been released. The HSEhave used estimates based on self-reports from the Labour Forces Survey.

The Key figures are as follows:

Occupational health

In 2015/16:

1.3 million workers suffer from work-related illness

0.5 million suffer from work-related musculoskeletal disorders

0.5 million suffer from work-related stress, depression or anxiety

2,515 deaths from mesothelioma

In 2015/16 there were 30.4 million working days lost due to work-related illness and non-fatal workplace injuries.

In monetary terms, this cost business £14.1 billion in 2014/15 – excluding the costs of long latency illnesses, like cancer, and new cases of work-related illness cost £9.3 billion in the same year.

Fatal and non-fatal injuries in numbers

In 2015/16:

0.6 million non-fatal injuries to workers

72,202 non-fatal injuries to employees reported by employers

144 fatal injuries to workers

£4.8 billion- the annual costs of workplace injury in 2014/15.

Construction and Manufacturing related injuries are down 0.9% and 6.8%, whereas illnesses are up 11.79 % and 0.7%.

This would suggest that health and safety cultures in workplaces are now recognising the risks of injuries and taking precautions to prevent them, whereas general health has now taken a back seat. This would also explain the HSE’s reasoning behind their focus this year on small refurbishment projects where dust, silica and asbestos are major health hazards.

As per previous years’ results, the UK has the least fatal injuries when compared to other large EU economies, including Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and France.

However, the UK comes in second place when looking at the percentage of self-reported, work-related injuries and health problems resulting in sick leave.